Newtown’s China Initiative Grew In 2010

By Eliza Hallabeck

It was a big year for Newtown’s China Initiative. Project overseer and NHS Assistant Principal Jason Hiruo now has a team of teachers helping to run the project, and the initiative has not only branched out to lower grade levels in Newtown, but is also showing the possibility to lead to a larger Asia initiative with ties in Japan.

Early this year, Newtown High School opened its doors to 17 Liaocheng Middle School Number 3, Liaocheng, Shandong Province of China, representatives who arrived in Newtown on February 17. During their visit, the group members were welcomed with several special events at NHS; they stayed with host families in town.

During a welcome breakfast for the delegates, Superintendent of School Janet Robinson looked back on her trip to Liaocheng in November 2007. After the trip, Dr Robinson said she felt like a rock star because of how well she had been treated while there.

A few months later Dr Robinson began her position as superintendent of schools in Newtown, “And I was so excited that Newtown High School was interested in continuing the relationship that I had started.”

All relationships, like the sister school relationship, she said, require torchbearers, people who are willing to lead the way.

Social studies teacher Martha Parvis and Mr Hiruo made the first trip to Liaocheng as representatives of NHS that following spring, “And they have really been torchbearers to keep this relationship going,” she said.

The relationship that has grown since is a wonderful one, Dr Robinson said.

“We are happy to have this relationship,” Dr Robinson continued in her February greeting, “and 27 of us will be going to Liaocheng in April. We are looking forward to it, and will do everything we can to continue this relationship.”

Those making the trip paid their own way. To prepare for the trip in April, the Newtown teachers and administrators took lessons from Chinese exchange teacher Ding Hong.

After arriving back to the state hours before school began on Monday, April 26, the 27 members of the 2010 Newtown High School Chinese Delegation reflected on their trip.

“The teachers had the opportunity to really get to know the teachers in other departments that they seldom have a chance to talk with,” said Dr Robinson. “Secondly, this relationship with our sister school, Liaocheng No. 3 Middle School, really accelerated having the teachers interact with their Chinese counterparts and to teach classes of Chinese students.”

Dr Robinson said it was a true learning experience for all members of the delegation. Next year, according to Dr Robinson, NHS students will be involved in a delegation to the sister school.

The delegation left for China on Friday, April 16. During its stay, the group toured the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Great Wall of China, the US Embassy in Beijing, and had a meeting with the US ambassador to China.

Attending delegates on the trip were Mr Hiruo, NHS Principal Charles Dumais, Dr Robinson, Assistant Superintendent of Schools Linda Gejda, NHS teachers Tom Brant, Jennifer Davidson, Tim Dejulio, Jennifer Dellasala, Candace Dietter, Diane Dutchick, Jason Edwards, Kristen English, David Foss, Amanda Friedman, Lori Hoagland, Jeanette Manfredonia, Doreen Marcucilli, Susan McConnell, Norm McConnell, Rachelle Myllymaki, Edward Obloj, Steve OShana, Carol Pelligra, Amy Repay, Daria Richardson, Kristin Violette, and Elizabeth Ward DeLeon.

Multiple departments from the school were represented within the delegation, including social studies, art, science, culinary, foreign language, and English.

Building A Relationship

Principal Charles Dumais also said the trip was a huge step in building the sister school relationship. Since the start of the relationship, it has been similar to the bond between distant cousins, he said, but the spring break trip broke down some of the formalities to create a working relationship.

Mr Hiruo said the trip was successful on many levels.

Within a week of returning, Mr Hiruo said he had already begun talks concerning a 2011 trip to Liaocheng Middle School #3. He also met with Reed Intermediate School administrators and teachers to discuss implementing a partnership between Reed and a matching school in Liaocheng.

While the high school partnership is preparing for an eventual student exchange program, Reed school would only be participating in a teacher exchange, due to the age of students.

In 2011, Mr Hiruo said, high school students may accompany the visiting delegation to China.

Mr Hiruo said the dynamic staff at Reed Intermediate School showed strong support for bringing the program to the fifth and sixth grade school.

More time was the only thing missing from the April trip, Mr Hiruo said, and next year’s trip will have it.

In October teachers and students were preparing for the April 2011 trip to China in the school’s Lecture Hall.

NHS junior Abbey Doski said the “mixer party” in the Lecture Hall was helping her meet other people, and reinforced Mr Hiruo’s concept of a family for the delegation.

“We are going to be a family when we go over to China,” she said.

Mr Hiruo said the feeling of being connected to the group will help when passing through airports and other checkpoints during the trip.

NHS Chinese exchange teacher Ding Hong also spoke during the meet and greet event to help prepare the group for the trip.

Abbey said the $3,000 cost for the trip was a small amount to pay for the experience.

NHS senior Austin Baldour said he heard about the program from participating in the exchange program last year when students and administrators from Liaocheng Middle School #3 visited NHS. Austin has kept in touch by e-mail with students he met last year, and said he may see some of the students when he visits the school during the 11-day stay in China.

For Austin, the experience of meeting new people was a big draw in participating.

A Grand Scheme

Mr Hiruo said his excitement for the program is growing as it expands to include both Newtown Middle School and Reed Intermediate School. For both schools, he said, the sister school relationship is in its early stages.

“It’s growing on a very grand scheme,” he said, of the sister school relationship overall, “and all these people who have helped and are helping are sending it through the process.”

Mr Hiruo thanked community support for the program’s relatively quick growth in the past few years.

The 13-day itinerary for the April 2011 delegation includes roughly two days of travel, visiting Liaocheng Middle School #3, visiting The Beijing Zoo, Beijing’s Walking Mall, and more.

Student ambassadors schedule to participate in the delegation are Austin Baldour, Kate Bartel, Nicole Davis, Abbey Doski, Liam Ferguson, Marina Lleonart-Calvo, Hannah Maret, Don Morrissey, Justina Paproski, Madalyn Petrovich, Leah Pinckney, and Kevin Rovelli.

NHS, NMS, and Reed teachers scheduled to visit China as educator delegates are Wendy Bowen, Tom Brant, Cathy Cincogrono, Amanda Friedman, Katherine Matz, Jeanne Pannone, Martha Parvis, Doug Russell, Mardi Smith, Michelle Tenenbaum, NHS Assistant Principal Jaime Rivera, and Mr Hiruo.

A Model Program

By November, the China initiative was recognized for its potential as a model Chinese language program for the country — strong local leadership, demonstrated commitment to international exchange and collaboration, and global vision for the future — when Newtown High School and the Newtown School District was accepted as a member of the cohort of schools in the Hanban-Asia Society Confucius Classrooms Network, the school announced recently.

The network represents more than 15,000 students in 23 states and the District of Columbia: public schools, independent schools, and charter schools; elementary, middle, and high schools; and urban, rural, and suburban schools.

Each Hanban-Asia Society Confucius Classroom will be matched with a partner school in China to enhance opportunities for language learning and to provide students, teachers, and administrators with opportunities to conduct exchanges and joint projects. The network is linked through an online community where teachers share resources and best practices in an effort to build models for the field.

The Newtown China Initiative is based on the current sister school partnership with three schools in the city of Liaocheng. The partnership now provides opportunities for Newtown students, grades 5 through 12, and a student ambassador preparatory program.

The Mandarin program will extend to level III by the fall of 2011 for students, and is currently piloting a language workshop to Newtown educators.

In its third year of hosting between sister schools, Liaocheng schools will send lower middle school students for the first time this school year in addition to their high school delegates, while Newtown will visit with 12 high school student ambassadors in April.

Newtown was one stop of many for a visiting group of dignitaries from the Chinese Ministry of Education in the first week of December. Along with Newtown High School, the group also toured Yale University and met with the University of Connecticut admissions office during its stay in Connecticut.

The 16 dignitaries from the Zheijian and Hibei Provinces of China visited NHS on Thursday, December 9, as part of a 20-day visit to the United States. According to the high school, the dignitaries also visited California and Washington, D.C. Newtown High School was the group’s one high school on the tour.

By the end of December, Mr Hiruo said a new website will be launched for the Newtown China Initiative.

A Presidential Gift

Mr Hiruo learned in the end of December that the school’s recent admission into the Hanban-Asia Society Confucius Classrooms Network meant the school had the opportunity to be part of a presidential gift.

Roughly 50 students enrolled in Mandarin or who are student ambassadors for the China Initiative, and teachers who have been connected to the growing program in the past, ventured into the school’s gymnasium on Monday, December 20, to form the Chinese symbols for peace and cooperation.

President Barack Obama will present the end product, what the school expects to be a combination of three photos to form the shot, and a one-page write-up on Newtown’s China Initiative, to Chinese President Hu Jintao during an upcoming visit to The White House, according to Mr Hiruo. All schools in the Hanban-Asia Society Confucius Classrooms Network were asked to submit a one-page presentation of their programs, but Mr Hiruo suspects Newtown’s addition to the gift will be unique.

“Schools were invited to participate,” said Mr Hiruo, “and as far as I know, right now, we are the only school working on this.”

Combining the one-page write-up with the photograph took a lot of effort in a relatively short period of time, according to Mr Hiruo, but he said he thinks everything “turned out all right.”

The students in the Mandarin classes, he said, came up with the idea to use the symbols for peace and cooperation.

“I think it is a great representation of our school,” said Mr Hiruo, “because, like [Enlgish teacher Amanda Friedman] said, the cooperation and collaboration that have gone hand-in-hand to get this very small project accomplished was a whole lot of communication, support, and enthusiasm. It’s worked out really well.”